Unless you know one, the answer is probably no. Women earn almost 60 percent of the undergraduate degrees in biology. They’re also doing reasonably well in mathematics, and better in physics.

Fame, though, has yet to follow. But that’s likely to change, especially in such centers of science as San Diego.

The talent pool, say experts, is deep and growing.

One San Diego woman is helping to unravel how the universe evolved. Another is studying why the immune system sometimes turns on itself. A third is piecing together how earth’s climate has changed over the past 20,000 years.

There are hundreds of such women in San Diego County. We’re introducing you to seven of them who are in their 30s and who show particular promise.

Sonia Sharma

Sonia Sharma (left), scientific director of the new RNAi Center at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, and Stephen Wilson, the center's executive director, helped craft the application for the $12.6 million federal grant that funded research facility.— John Gastaldo

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Sonia Sharma (left), scientific director of the new RNAi Center at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, and Stephen Wilson, the center's executive director, helped craft the application for the $12.6 million federal grant that funded research facility.
— John Gastaldo

Education: Ph.D in microbiology and immunology at McGill University in Montreal

The human immune system can be a fickle thing. Usually, it combats potential threats, such as viruses, some of which can be deadly. But, the immune system sometimes goes haywire, cultivating health problems that range from cancer to heart disease to asthma. Sharma is studying how and why such malfunctions occur. She’s particularly interested in the role genes play in this process. Sharma manipulates genes, turning them on and off, to investigate what’s going on. Such research is the foundation of medicine.

Currently, geneticists have a working understanding of only 6,000 of the more than 20,000 genes in the body.

“The keys are all in there somewhere,” Sharma said. “We have a (genetic) map, but the borders are uncharted territory.”

Anais Orsi

Anais Orsi, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography— Eduardo Contreras

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Anais Orsi, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
— Eduardo Contreras

Education:Masters in oceanography from UC San Diego, Ph.D candidate, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

You can learn a lot about how our planet’s climate has changed over long periods of time by studying samples of the Antarctic tundra. The ice literally contains “ancient air,” squired away in little bubbles. Orsi drilled into this ice, pulling out cores that she’s now studying at Scripps.

“I try to understand what the climate was (like) in the past,” said Orsi. “What was it? How did it work? The more we know. the more we can predict and prepare for the future.”

Orsi reconstructs the past by scientifically dating various points along the cores of ice she brought back to La Jolla. She then cuts samples out of the cores and melts them, releasing bubbles filled with “ancient air.”

Her research has shown a rapid increase in temperature over the past 50 years within the Antarctic region, providing climatologists with data that has helped them understand trends in global warming

Nicola Allen

Nicola Allen, a researcher at the Salk Institute — Photo courtesy of the Salk Institute

About one in 88 children in the United States develops autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by problems with communication and social skills. Researchers have only a limited idea of how autism and disorders like it arise. Allen is helping examine the problem by studying how cells in the brain communicate. In particular, Allen studies the pediatric brain to clarify how communication between cells develops in its earliest stages.

The evolution of this system “is one of the most complex questions in human biology,” said Allen.

She plans to apply what she’s learning to the study other disorders, such as stroke.

Nicola Allen Interview

An interview with Nicola Allen, a researcher from the Salk Institute - video courtesy of the Salk Institute

Alison Coil

Alison Coil, a associate professor of physics at UC San Diego —Photo courtesy of UC San Diego

Peering through a telescope is a form of time travel. You’re seeing light that, in some cases, was generated hundreds of millions of years ago. Much of that light comes from galaxies far beyond our Milky Way, places that live in the imagination and research of Alison Coil.

By examing distant galaxies, Coil is able to figure out how they acted and perhaps understand what might happen in the future.

Using the Keck Telescope in Hawaii and the Magellan Telescope in Chile, she has found that these ancient galaxies were much more active -- and more violent -- than many of those that we see today. She wants to know why. She is especially interested in how the gases in these galaxies coalesced to form stars.

When she’s not looking through her telescope, Alison is also trying to bring the world of science to young women. She focuses on supporting female graduate students in physics, a field still dominated by men.

Alison Marsden

Alison Marsden, Assistant Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC San Diego — Photo courtesy of UC San Diego

Performing surgery on a pediatric heart is risky business. Such hearts are about the size of a plum. Marsden's work involves making such surgeries easier and safer. She creates computer models of the heart that helps guide the surgeon. Marsden creates such models using a CT-scan or MRI image of a child’s heart. The model is highly specific, showing arteries, veins, and simulated blood flow. The process is similar to what engineers do in designing an aircraft.

“We’ve done a lot of work on modeling surgeries for children with heart defects where basically a baby is born with only half of their heart,” said Marsden. “So we’ve done some computer simulations looking at how to design better surgeries for babies who are born with these conditions.”

Education: Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from La Sapienza University in Rome

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a debilitating disease that affects roughly one in 3,500 males worldwide. The disease slowly weakens a person’s muscles, causing them to rip, handicapping many people from an early age. Mice can develop the same disease, but they don’t suffer the same degree of debilitation as humans. Sacco wants to know why.

“We are interested in developing strategies to actually improve muscle functions for those patients affected by this disease,” said Sacco. “We’re actually developing approaches in order to better understand (it).”

While the effects of the disease have been understood by researchers, a lack of knowledge in how the disease develops in humans has been a road block in developing possible treatments.

Mahasweta Sarkar

Mahasweta Sarkar (left), associate professor of computer engineering at San Diego State University with her research partner Chris Paolini — Photo courtesy of SDSU — Chris Scott

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Mahasweta Sarkar (left), associate professor of computer engineering at San Diego State University with her research partner Chris Paolini —
/ Chris Scott

Do you tell your doctor the truth about your health? Many people fudge on the details. Increasingly, though, it doesn’t matter. Advances in wireless technology help your doctor get an honest assessment, thanks, in part to Mahasweta Sarkar. She has developed wireless devices that can monitor your vital signs and send the information to your physician. The devices are even small enough to fit in your pocket. To check their patient’s vitals, physicians need merely pull out their smartphone.

“The novelty of the device is the concept itself,” Sarkar said.

Sarkar believes that wireless technology, such as her device, will rule our daily lives—allowing for far more efficient forms of both medical and social communication.